Job outlook improving for teens and grads

The job market is beginning to thaw for teens and recent college graduates, but the slow pace of recovery remains a significant barrier to short-term earnings and long-term career possibilities.

Traditional summer jobs — from selling clothes at the Gap to lifeguarding to serving food at Applebee’s — remain filled largely by older workers displaced from more lucrative positions by the recession or in need of extra cash to recoup lost savings.

“There are still a lot of people taking jobs below what adults would like to have,” said Tara Sinclair, an assistant professor of economics at George Washington University. “There’s still the crowding out of less-skilled teens and young adults.”

Nationwide, workers between 16 and 24 years old comprise less than 14 percent of the total work force but more than 26 percent of unemployed persons, according to a recent study by the Economic Policy Institute. In contrast, workers 55 years old and older make up 19 percent of the labor force but only 13 percent of those unemployed.

The good news for young workers is that the trend will begin to change if the economy continues to add higher-paying jobs, Sinclair said. The bad news, she added, is that if that happens it likely won’t be until the fall — when money-hungry students are back in school.

In Montgomery County, recreation supervisor Martha Lilly said her department has been inundated with job applications for roughly 300 summer camp positions offered this year.

“There are more and more people that we cannot place because we have so many more people coming back,” Lilly said, adding that roughly 60 to 80 percent of counselors and directors are returning this year for the jobs that can net them rates from minimum wage to $15 per hour.

And while applicants are primarily teens, a significant number of Montgomery’s teachers are now applying, as well — many hoping for extra cash as they prepare for one more year without a pay raise.

In the District, a city-sponsored summer jobs program pays students for everything from mowing lawns in public spaces to making up credits at summer school. But of the nearly 29,000 students who applied, the city can fund only 21,000 of them.

Among recent college graduates, the outlook has improved slightly after two years of pain. The jobless rate was about 8 percent in April for college graduates under 25 years old, compared with about 9.9 percent for the nation overall, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Typically, however, unemployment among young grads is about half of the national rate.

The relatively high rates are causing students like Stacy Jones to spend free time distinguishing herself from her peers. Jones, 23, will graduate from the University of Maryland in December with a master’s degree in journalism. In addition to two classes and a part-time internship at USA Today this summer, Jones intends to teach herself Web production skills.

“I feel much better about job prospects now than I did coming out of undergrad, but I need to plan out what skills I’ll need to know months in advance,” she said.

Lindsay Sanchez, a recent college grad and native of Mahwah, N.J., said she found employment through networking.

Sanchez submitted an application for an internship with NPR’s “All Songs Considered.” While attending a music conference on a school grant, she met Bob Boilen, host of “All Songs Considered,” and was able to vouch for herself in person.

“I put myself in the right place at the right time,” she said.

Without that stroke of luck, she said, “I would have been plugging away on Craigslist.”

Joey Flechas contributed to this report.

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